Don't let the bed bugs bite

My asain-ness and dark hair has earned me the name "Nepali face" wherever I go in Kathmandu. The didis (elderly Nepali women) are always so excited to tell me how Nepali I look and then giggle at me. At the moment I’m staying with my friend Leti's Nepali family and her baa immediately picked up on my Asian side. He excitedly announced, Nepali face! and then asked, Chinese? The family was very excited to point out china to me on the television. I proceeded to tell them I've never actually been to China... I've never been so in touch with my Asian heritage.

I have yet to experience any extreme homesickness but last night I was super homesick for my Nepali aamaa. I'm currently staying with another family until the fleas in my house are gone. To put it simply, bugs in Nepal dig me. Bugs will literally go to extreme lengths to find me. I woke up one night to a cockroach trapped inside of my mosquito net and Jenny's fleas have successfully destroyed my legs. Sadly I can no longer live at my house until Jenny and the rugs are flea-free. I had no idea how attached I’d be come to my Nepali family until I was forced to leave. It’s been less than 24 hours and I already miss the comfort and routine of living with them. I know this is very temporary (at least I hope) so I realized that this is semi melodramatic, but starting over with a new family a month into the program is proving to be more of an adjustment than I was expecting. There are, however, some wonderful perks that come with my new living situation though. I get to live in the biggest house I will probably ever live in—it's 5 stories and has stunning rooftop view of the rangichangi (colorful) city with rolling green hills as a backdrop. I also get to experience living with a big Nepali family. I’ve become accustomed to a quiet house with just my aamaa and baa. Now I have an aamaa, baa, sister, brother, aunt, brothercounsinuncle, and others that seem to come and go, many of whom I have no idea how they are related to the family.